(Winner of the PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction) Through the eyes of one unforgettable boy, this "ambitious, beautiful, unapologetically passionate" novel (Barbara Kingsolver) explores a country's unraveling, its tentative new beginning, and the love that binds its people together despite unspeakable brutality. Naomi Benaron follows the life and progress of Jean Patrick Nkuba, a young runner who dreams of becoming Rwanda's first Olympic track medalist.

"Benaron depicts the rugged beauty of Rwanda, and the horror of genocide, vividly in these pages ... imparting to readers a culturally rich and unflinching story of resilience and resistance."—Chicago Tribune (Editor's Choice)